Kitsune Monogatari
by Junrino
Summary: Naruto nearly dies when he is attacked one night. 'Where on earth am I? Why is there a girl crying on me? Why does this girl have fox ears and tails' Confusion ensues.
1. Prologue

Chapter 1

Naruto nearly dies when he is attacked one night. 'Where on earth am I? Why is there a girl crying on me? Why does this girl have fox ears and tails?' Confusion ensues.

Ryuichi Odato was a broken man. Ever since the catastrophe that devastated his life 10 years ago, his life was completely destroyed. His family, his house, his career, all of it obliterated in one terrible night.

Even now, he could still vividly remember.

A chakra so tainted, so evil engulfed him and choked him. Those enraged, scarlet eyes and the destruction that was wrought with every swing of it's tails. His gaze fell on his arm, and he felt the sorrow soak through him again.

Even now, he could still vividly remember.

He remembered lying on the ground hopelessly, his blood pooling below him from a searing cut he suffered from flying pieces of debris. Even though he suffered from severe blood loss, what happened next was forever imprinted in his memory.

Haru, the mother of his two children and the love of his life ran over, concerned and utterly worried for his safety. Despite being just a civilian and without training, she dashed over without an iota of hesitation, and without concern for her own well-being.

Even now, he could still vividly remember.

He could hear himself screaming his lungs out as he begged her not to come. He could remember the Monster and it's belittling eyes come upon them and deem them as no more than insignificant insects.

He could feel the dark, malicious power of the Monster build up in a visible orb of chakra before it was unleashed, wiping out what seemed like half the village. After he had awoke, he had realised what had happened. Her existence was completely erased. Just gone like that.

At this point, Ryuichi supposed it was more than vivid recollection. Every night of his life, whenever he closed his eyes to rest, he relived that day, that fear, and the pain of seeing his beloved cruelly taken from him again, again, and yet again. He gritted his teeth, balled his fists, broke his only arm while thrashing on a particularly terrible night, wailed and cried until he passed out from exhaustion. Eventually, he had to be sent to the hospital for a mental evaluation.

Now, he couldn't take it anymore. Not anymore. What was the point in living? There was truly nothing in it left for him. Not his love, not his children, not his career. There was just nothing. A blur in the distance broke him from his reverie. His eyes, weighed by dark bags from his insomnia glanced upward, focusing on something in the distance.

There he was. Spiky blond hair, cerulean eyes, and that orange jumpsuit. There was no mistaking him - Uzumaki Naruto. The jailor of the Monster. Ryuichi felt his fists tighten and once again, he began to question the logic of both the Hokage and the council. How could they possibly think to imprison the Kyuubi - that horrible Monster - inside that little brat? There was no doubt that the Kyuubi would one day escape from the seal, and when that occurred… Ryuichi had to suppress the shiver sent down his spine.

Yes. He would fulfill his duty to Konoha. Eyeing the orange-clad Jinchuuriki again, he reaffirmed his resolve. He reached into his pouch and withdrew a kunai. He ran his finger along the edge and inspected it closely. A quick, dazzling gleam shone from it, and a thin stream of blood ran down his finger. This would do. With the rustling of the leaves from the gentle breeze, he disappeared into the shadows.

"Ah, that was delicious! Thanks Jii-san!"

Naruto's voice rang through the air as he finished his fifth bowl of ramen. Ichiraku's was really the best, he thought, patting his bulging belly. Fishing coins out of his jumpsuit, he placed them on the table and grinned from ear to ear. Suddenly feeling his exhaustion catch up to him, he stifled a yawn and stretched his aching body. The training that day had really taken its toll.

He had recently redoubled his training, the memory of his recent failure bearing down on him. Just last week, he had failed the graduation exam for the second time in a row. Shaking his head, he snapped out of his reverie. He wouldn't let himself fail again, he resolved. He would truly one day be Hokage.

"See you later, Jii-san, Ayame Nee-san!"

"See you later, Naruto!"

Waving towards them, Naruto hopped off his seat and ran off. The sun had long set, and the moon had already taken it's place in the apex of the sky. The dim light of the moon painted the village in an unworldly, ethereal glow, and Naruto once again took the time to relish it. This was Konoha, he thought to himself. He took to the roofs and took the usual detour through the village.

The view from atop the Hokage Monument was truly a sight to behold, Naruto marvelled. Towering over the village, it was a spectacular vantage point and Naruto often found himself up here especially after the sun had set. Sitting on the Yondaime Hokage's head, he could see the academy, Ichiraku's, and even his home from here.

It seemed so long ago now, when Jii-Jii had first brought him here and told him about the Will of Fire, and about his position of Hokage. It was there and then that he had sworn to one day be Hokage.

Naruto lay onto the ground, staring into the night. Shikamaru would have loved to join him, he absently thought. The sky was a sea of glittering jewels, each with a different luster to it.

They formed abstract patterns and shapes, and Naruto mentally noted to find the book about constellations. He eventually lost track of time, and the aching of his back nagged at him to return to his bed. Just as he was about to head back however, the air whistled and his gut instinct screamed at him.

Naruto flew to the floor, rolled and got into a squatting position. It was a textbook academy evasion technique, something he had practiced relentlessly today, but the pain in his arm informed him that something was wrong. It was a deep cut, and a warm river of blood streamed from it. A kunai was buried in the ground right next to him.

"What the hell?" Naruto shouted.

A flash of light entered his vision, and Naruto dodged again. Rolling onto the ground, he dug into his back pouch to draw a kunai, but found it missing. Looking behind him, he realised that the pouch was pinned to a tree on the other end of the clearing by a kunai.

'The second kunai!' He realised.

There was no time to think. His thoughts were racing, but they were a hinderance now.

Who was the attacker? Why was he being attacked?

There was no time for that. The night robbed his vision, and the attacker had already disarmed him. Panic set in, and he was frozen to the spot. He was just relying on his pure instinct and reflexes to dodge and evade. Another flash.

This time however, Naruto caught a glimpse of something in the distance and twisted out of the way. He quickly took cover behind a few rocks, but managed to catch sight of him in the dim moonlight. His eyes widened, and he felt a pang of betrayal stab him. How could it be? Why was a - a Konoha shinobi be attacking him? Jii-Jii had said… Jii-Jii had said…

The rustling of grass caught Naruto's attention. His assailant came from the shadows, slowly approaching with a kunai in his hand. He wore the standard Chunin attire, but one of the sleeves of his shirt was fluttering with the wind. His hair was wild and untamed, his facial hair long and untrimmed. A jovial, joking part of Naruto brought up the resemblance to a lion. The resemblance was made even clearer, looking at his eyes. They were sharp, jaded with hatred. He was a predator, wanting nothing more than to kill the one before him.

"Wha- who are you, and why are you attacking me?" Naruto yelled in indignation. The man stared at him, his footsteps slow and relentless in their pace. His lips didn't so much as part. Instead, his answer came in the form of a kunai straight to the forehead. This time, it was thrown with much greater speed, and across such a short distance- Naruto couldn't evade in time.

"A-ahh." Naruto's whole body shook. Blood trickled down his face. The kunai, which would have plowed right through him had stopped just short of doing so. The goggles, which were a present from Jii-Jii, had saved him. The glass had been shattered, and the kunai had dug into his skin. Tears had formed in his eyes, and he had barely avoided wetting his pants on the spot.

Naruto took a step back, as fear struck his heart. He had just seen Death. There was no way to defeat this man. His breathing was ragged and erratic, and he was hyperventilating. He turned and ran as fast as his legs would. His tears too, ran without repose.

"No, p-please, don't kill me! No, no, no, please…"

The village, it was safe. Jii-Jii would protect him. This nightmare would end soon. He had just fallen asleep whilst looking up at the stars. He was going to be late for the academy again and...

The excruciating pain had tore him from his delusion. He was sent tumbling into the ground. His heels felt like molten iron had been poured on them.

"Ahh… Please…"

He clawed at the ground. Blue, frenzied eyes darted around, searching for hope. Where was rescue? Where was home? He only knew where the ground was. Footsteps froze his desperate efforts. Looking up, he saw the shinobi standing before him.

The fear struck anew in Naruto again. The shinobi stood with his back to the moon, obstructing his features. All Naruto could see was the features of the man, contorted with hatred. His mouth twisted into a scowl, his eyes piercingly sharp. He smashed his foot into Naruto, sending him rolling. Naruto coughed out blood and teeth.

"W-why?" He managed to say.

The man walked closer again. He grabbed Naruto's collar, pulling him up and staring him in the eye. His eyes and cheeks were red, his teeth an ugly yellow and stained black and his breath was horrid. How long had he not brushed his teeth? From here, Naruto thought, the man really seemed like a monster.

"It's all your fault." The man seethed.

"Everything is your fault. Let me ask you, why did you have to take everything away from me?"

Momentarily, the horrible pain Naruto had been feeling had been replaced with confusion, before the man smashed his forehead into his nose. With an excruciating crunch, his world turned black, before it faded back into the nightmare.

"Do you remember? Do you remember that night? You destroyed everything that day." He spat, smashing his head against him again. Another crunch.

"You took my wife, my home, my children, my arm, my friends. You took everything." He continued.

"Do you remember? Well? Do you remember?."

Naruto was in far too much agony to even comprehend his words, and it was all he could do to try and muster a response.

"I-I didn't-"

The man released his hold on Naruto, before his foot smashed Naruto into the ground and formed a crater. Naruto couldn't even cry out in pain. Had something broken? He couldn't even tell if his ribs were intact.

"This is for the greater good. This is for Konoha."

He forced his eyelids open, and he wished that it would all just end. The pain, it surged again and again, and Naruto couldn't even scream. The man whipped out another kunai. He inspected it, twirled it, playing with it. It was as if he could hear Naruto's plea and was doing everything he could to reject him. Finally, he gripped it in his hand, eying the jinchuuriki again. He took aim, and released it.

"Die."

The world faded to black.

What had just happened?

Ryuichi looked around, utterly confused by the turn of events. Just moments before, the jinchuuriki had lay on the floor, utterly pummeled and knocking on death's door. He had made sure of that. His rage was unleashed violently and with every hit he landed, he felt a gratification. That the boy actually managed to evade his first kunai was surprising. It was a testament to his rusty skills and the boy's instincts, he supposed. He had made sure to prevent grabbing any attention. Wearing the Chunin attire he was so used to and making sure not to use any ninjutsu techniques. They weren't necessary to dispose of a single brat anyway.

Just as he was about to land the killing blow however, the boy had simply vanished from sight. It wasn't as if he had blinked - he wanted to see the end of the Monster with his very eyes. He had simply vanished. The only trace of the events that had just happened were the crater in the ground and the kunai buried in the soil. Was it a kawarimi? Or perhaps a genjutsu? Ryuichi Odato stared blankly at the ground as he fell into a brown study.

The rustling of leaves caught his attention. His head snapped around, thinking to have found his prey. An unfamiliar silhouette approached in the distance. Ryuichi immediately formulated the excuses he had planned beforehand. He squinted, struggling to see in the darkness. It was strange. The silhouette was wearing something baggy, like a yukata and a kimono, and was quite slim.

His eyes widened, and his jaws fell agape. His immediate instinct was that he had fallen to a genjutsu, but even as he disrupted his own chakra again and again, nothing had changed.

His body shivered and he felt his eyes water. Inside, his shinobi instincts screamed and warned him, but he didn't move. He couldn't move. He saw the figure pause in surprise and smile, and he felt his soul purified and liberated a million times over. Unable to hold back his overflowing emotion, the tears fell like a torrent.

"Haru."

His thoughts were an absolute mess. Wasn't he supposed to be killing the boy? Wasn't he supposed to be fulfilling his duty? Wasn't he supposed to be… Ryuichi let the kunai fall to the ground as he grabbed his head. The shinobi instincts, his mindset, so deeply engraved in him just fell apart before her. Why was he fighting again? Why did he want to kill him again? But even those thoughts melted away.

His legs failed him. He wanted no more than to hug her, to feel her warmth and be greeted by her embrace again, but his legs failed him.

"Haru, Haru." He said again and again.

Haru smiled, reaching down to grasp his outstretched hand. She knelt before him, her other hand gently wiping the tears from his face.

"Ryuichi. I missed you." She replied gently.

His heart nearly leapt out of his chest. He reached in for an embrace, and she complied.

Ahh, how long had it been since he felt this warmth, he wondered. It was exactly the same.

He ran his fingers down her hair, twirling it and buried his face into her shoulder.

Yes, it was like this. Everything was perfect. He was living in a dream.

"Ryuichi."

But it was not to be. His dream ended as quickly as his nightmare had started. Pain exploded in his chest like fire, his vision distorted and blurred, and he felt his legs give way. He fell back first onto the floor, and blood came up his throat forcing him to cough raspily.

What the hell? What had just happened? Recovering from the shock, the pain throbbed mercilessly in his chest again. Blood, warm and red and irreplaceably precious, soaked his vest and shirt and seeped into the ground.

Who was it? Was it - was it the boy? Is this a genjutsu? Where was the enemy?

Her footsteps recaptured his attention. She stood silently, basking in the moonlight. Even as she looked down at his figure, even as her hands were soaked in his blood, she looked as beautiful as ever. She raised her hand, her blood-stained hand to brush her hair to the side. In her other hand, she held a knife, a kunai of some sort.

"Ryuichi."

The realisation of the cruel, agonizing truth and the confusion of the situation was like a stinging, painful kick to the head. The betrayal hurt even more than the hole in his chest.

Haru… Haru stabbed me?

No. He concluded. She is not Haru. Haru is gone.

But how? She is definitely not an illusion. It is not Henge either. Her voice is exactly the same.

"Ryuichi, How does it feel?" She abruptly asked.

"To be stabbed by the one you love. How does it feel?" Her smile was no longer the angelic one he knew. It was an evil one, sadistic and cold.

A kick rocketed into his chest, sending spasms of pain through him.

"Ne, isn't it ironic?"

Another kick, delivered to his cranium.

"To be hunted like prey, like you hunted just now." She said.

"You- You're a monster. You're not human." He spat. He felt his fury rage through his veins.

Haru's - no, the imposter's eyes widened, and the sadistic smile twisted into an angry snarl.

"Exactly." She spat back, composure lost.

"I'd rather die than be _human._ " Her words were like venom, laced with such hatred and bitterness.

Her kick this time broke his nose.

He flailed around and screamed terribly into the night.

When he opened his eyes again, he stared straight into eyes.

But it was not Haru who he awoke to.

Instead, silver hair and blue eyes greeted him. A cold beauty, regal and majestic and so ethereal and unreal. It was as if…

It was then he noticed the vulpine ears, and the swishing tails behind her, and everything clicked.

A kitsune. A youkai.

"But you hurt Kyuko,"

"And for that you will pay."

Hey, this is the first fanfiction I've ever written. It took me quite a bit of time, despite having all the ideas in my head, and I feel quite uneasy about posting this. Please review, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.


	2. Chapter 1

Heya. Thanks for all the reviews and feedback! This chapter is quite (Very) late, but I hope you all will enjoy.

The first thing that came to Naruto was the pain.

It was like his entire body was on fire. Like he had nails hammered into him. His head, too felt like a brick. He couldn't even tell which way was up. Was he standing up? Was he lying down? He couldn't even tell. His eyelids felt like they were sealed shut with hot glue, and he couldn't even move an inch. He couldn't even scream.

Agony was a mild word to describe it.

How long would it last for? It felt like an eternity had already come and gone. Was this hell? Had he already died? Naruto felt slightly disappointed. He hadn't even become a shinobi yet, much less become the Hokage. But these thoughts were banished when hope had finally arrived.

A wave of comfort washed over him. It was like jumping into the onsen after a day of training, or a mouthful of Ichiraku's after a few days of ramen deprivation. It was a calming, pleasant feeling. An ephemeral, pleasant warmth. It was hard to describe what he was feeling. Naruto had felt it before. It was a tiny, insignificant corner of his consciousness, but Naruto was sure he had felt it before. Was this... chakra?

The pain that had been tormenting him ebbed away, eased by the chakra that overcame him. Slowly, he felt his senses return to him. He felt a supreme softness envelop his back, and he knew that he was not lying on his own bed. It felt like he was sleeping on feathers.

The next thing that came to him was the sound of sobbing. It was feminine and muffled and barely audible, but just hearing it caused an ache in his chest. He forced his eyes open, searching for the source of the sobbing. The sudden light caused him to flinch, and his vision was a blurry mess. As his vision returned to him, he focused on the girl before him, and Naruto's breath was taken away.

It wasn't as if he hadn't met any pretty girls before. By Naruto's standards, Sakura-chan more than qualified as a 'cute' girl, and it wasn't as if the other girls in the academy were unattractive.

But as Naruto laid his eyes on the girl before him, Naruto was rendered speechless. She wore a gray yukata, with a sakura-patterned golden obi fastening it in place. Long, black hair that ran to her waist framed her face, which was also unbelievably cute, and the pupils of her eyes were a mesmerising scarlet hue and the fox ears and the tails swishing behind her were the same beautiful red. But above everything else, something else caught his attention. Her expression was one of pure sadness, almost one of repentment. Tears ran down her cheeks like a stream without repose.

It was a blemish within a perfect picture. The girl was so unbelievably attractive and cute and pretty that the 11-year Naruto did not have the vocabulary to describe her, but the tears that ran down her face were an ugly splash of paint across the perfect picture. Even so, Naruto was beyond awed, and a single thought came to him.

'Holy shit.'

It was a simple, primitive thought. It was the simple desire of a prepubescent teen, and yet it was more than anything he had felt while looking at Sakura-chan, or any other girl. He wondered how much more perfect it would be if she had a radiant smile instead.

The ache that had been relentlessly assaulting him increased tenfold, clawing at his chest. His mind went completely blank, and with the wisps of consciousness left he instinctively reached out towards her. His vision flashed before him again, and before he knew it, the world was black again.

Naruto's mind sank into the abyss of sleep once again.

Naruto blinked.

It was an unfamiliar ceiling. Or the lack of ceiling, rather. The sudden brightness of the midday sun was piercing, and Naruto reflexively shielded his eyes with his arm. The sky was an azure blue, clouds lazily floated overhead, and the hustle and bustle of wildlife that was synonymous with the forests of Konoha were audible. Sitting up, he let the events of the previous day sink in.

Was that all a dream? Did he just fall asleep during training?

No, Naruto concluded. There was no way that was a dream. It was too real.

The damage to his attire was a testament to that.

His goggles were completely shattered, and the jumpsuit he loved so much was covered in blood, mud and was torn to tatters.

A small sadness came over Naruto. The pair of goggles was the first gift he had ever received from Jii-Jii.

Then what about the scene he saw after that nightmare? Was that a dream? And how was he completely uninjured despite those injuries?

His mind wandered to the tear stricken girl he had seen. He wasn't sure if that was a dream. How was it possible that such a pretty girl could exist? She had a doll-like, inhuman quality to her beauty that just took his breath away. And what was with those fox-ears and those tails?

"Oh, you're finally awake."

A sudden voice snapped Naruto out of his brown study. Surprised, Naruto turned around, only to find a girl right in his face.

Literally. Naruto nearly brushed his nose against hers, right before staring into blue eyes.

Pretty, blue eyes.

And short silver hair.

And twitching, furry fox ears.

And- wait what?

He stared again for a moment, just to make sure he hadn't been seeing things.

But he blinked once, and twice, and they were still there.

Wait - didn't the girl in the dream-

And it was about right then that he realised that he was right in the face of _a girl._

"W-w-w-what the!" He exploded, his face completely scarlet as he recoiled away. His adolescent mind began to race, and blood rushed to his face.

The girl looked at him with a strange expression on her face, and for a second, Naruto thought that he saw a small, mischievous smile tugging at her lips.

Huh?

But by the time Naruto had blinked, it had all but disappeared, replaced by the strange expression she had worn.

Naruto didn't like that look, he decided.

"Pervert." She abruptly accused, shattering the silence.

"What?" Naruto gaped, staring at her.

What on earth? What had brought this on?

"You're a pervert." She repeated coldly, turning her head away.

"W-wha - I'm not a pervert!" The blonde protested, his face growing redder.

She shot him a skeptical look, narrowing her eyes.

"Liar." She accused again, a small, teasing smile beginning to show.

"I don't believe you. You were staring at me so intently like you wanted to kiss me."

Naruto's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish.

"I wasn't! I was just-"

It was then that the girl looked and pointed downwards toward him. Silenced, he followed her finger with his eyes, and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. His boyhood was standing at full mast, squeezed uncomfortably in his pants.

Checkmate.

"Look at **that.** How can you still deny that you're a pervert?" She asked knowingly, the teasing- no, sadistic smile growing even wider.

"I'm- that's a normal - I just woke up - " Naruto blabbered, his face already resembling a tomato's.

"Hmph, just admit that you're a pervert already. At this point, you might as well change your name to pervert, why don't you?" She continued, her smile continuing to grow even wider.

"LIKE I SAID, I'M NOT A PERVERT DAMN IT!"

If her grin could grow any wider, it would've probably split her face.

Naruto didn't like this girl.

He glared at her, and she responded with the same smile that sent his blood pumping with rage.

He had spent the better part of the afternoon arguing with this unreasonable girl, who had just placidly smiled and thrown accusation after accusation at him, and now the sun was already barely visible behind the trees.

It wasn't until his stomach had made its displeasure known by growling audibly and the embarrassment kicked in that the exhaustion had also caught up to him, and he fell flat on his butt.

She was sadistic and teasing and unreasonable and had that infuriating smile on her face as she made fun of him. Girls were supposed to be gentle and kind, and she was anything but.

So it was with a grudging admiration that he had to admit that she was way out of Sakura-chan's league. At least when it came to looks.

Shocking, right? He wouldn't have believed it if someone had told him that yesterday.

The other fox girl in his dream didn't count.

He found his eyes drawn to the fox ears twitching on her head again, and was reminded of a very simple fact.

Humans don't have fox-ears.

Wait, what?

Humans don't have fox-ears, his brain repeated, stating the obvious.

That's right. Humans don't have fox ears. His eyes widened as the truth dawned on him.

She wasn't human. Neither was the girl in his dream.

"Wait." He suddenly said, breaking the awkward silence.

"Hmm?"

"Humans… don't have fox-ears right?" He asked, uncertainly.

"Yeah, of course not. Why?" She asked, bored.

"That means… you're not human?" He asked rhetorically.

"Of course not. Humans don't have fox-ears and tails like kitsune do right?"

Naruto felt his jaw drop to the ground.

Kitsune? Like the nine-tailed fox?

"What? Did you just realise? I thought you would've known that I was a kitsune just from the feeling of my chakra alone. I mean, you are training to be a shinobi right, Naruto?"

Naruto suddenly felt really stupid.

"I-I mean of course! I was just - wait… how do you know my name?" Naruto trailed.

"Its written on your forehead, you know." She said, smiling.

"Huh?" He instinctively reached up to his forehead.

"I was lying." She said, and Naruto really, really felt like hitting her.

"Oi! Don't - "  
"Naruto." She interrupted, and Naruto fell silent immediately.

Gone was the jovial, teasing, sadistic, irritating smile of hers, replaced by tightly pursed lips. Her furrowed brows spoke of uncertainty and her eyes reflected an uncharacteristic seriousness.

Naruto wasn't sure he liked this side of her more.

She got into a seiza position, and with the utmost seriousness, she placed both her hands on the ground and bowed deeply with her head nearly touching the floor.

"My name is Yoko of the Korishima clan, child of Kazuko, my mother. I am to serve as your retainer henceforth, and I am forever to be in your service, Naruto-sama."

It seemed like Naruto's jaw had been hitting the floor quite often recently.

It couldn't really be helped, though, given that the kitsune-girl-fox-girl who had been irritating him to no end was now bowing to him and calling him Naruto-sama. It was also quite unfair that she was undeniably incredibly pretty when she was being serious, even if she said she was a kitsune.

But it's not like his heart skipped a beat or anything, okay? Definitely did not happen. Sakura-chan was still number one in his heart. Probably.

"Naruto-sama, is it alright if you respond somehow? If you don't say anything I'll have to continue bowing to you like this, and I really don't like bowing to a perverted master like you." She suddenly said, interrupting his thoughts.

Naruto resolved to keep silent until the next morning.

Hokage's office

Hiruzen was flabbergasted.

No, given the frantic frenzy and panic of the past day, flabbergasted was a weak way to put it. It started in the morning, when an ANBU agent was found unconscious in the ANBU headquarters in his birthday suit. He thought it was pretty amusing, right until the moment he realised that he was the ANBU in charge of observing Naruto.

He had placed an executive order to all available shinobi in the ANBU and Jonins in the village to search for him. Even the clan heads like Hiashi and Tsume were not spared; they made full use of their Kekkei Genkai in their efforts to find him. Fearing a repeat of the Hyuga incident, he even sent men to the borders of Fire country.

However, all their efforts were in vain.

Despite having some of the best trackers and sensors in all of the Elemental Nations, they couldn't find as much as even a scent or a trail to follow. Tsume and Kuromaru were boisterously proclaiming that they had found a lead, only for it to end right at the Hokage Monument.

So much for that.

And what of the Hyuga's all-seeing vision and unparalleled range? Were they so incompetent that they couldn't even find a single boy with an orange jumpsuit and blonde hair? And how about the chakra sensing abilities of the Aburame? Surely they couldn't expect him to be satisfied with a "we were unable to locate him" as an answer?

After a day of relentless searching, Hiruzen had caved to the pessimistic voices speaking in his head. That Naruto was kidnapped by Kumo or Iwa, and that they were torturing him relentlessly as revenge. Or that they were brainwashing him, filling his head with propaganda, and were planning to use him as a weapon against Konoha? Or was it the organisation that Jiraiya had warned him about, the Akatsuki?

His head ached with pessimistic worry. Above Naruto's status as a Jinchuuriki, above Naruto's lineage, and above his own role as the Third Hokage, he was truly concerned about Naruto. Naruto was more than everything the councillors made him out to be. He was more than just a weapon.  
Naruto was his grandson.

These thoughts rekindled the burning spirit of the Third Hokage. Just as he was about to declare a status of emergency and a meeting to discuss matters, a truly unbelievable miracle occurred. From the crystal ball he had been so fond of using, he saw the Number One Most Unpredictable Ninja in Konoha. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, blinking again and again.

Naruto had been found. And it was no exaggeration to call it a miracle. After an entire day of relentless searching, of all places... he had been at the Hokage Monument.

It looked like Tsume was right after all.

But how could it have been? How did he evade the eyes of everyone in the village for an entire day? Even now, his keen senses could not detect a trace of Naruto's chakra signature, despite being less than a hundred metres away. Not a trace. He continued to stare at the crystal ball, utterly flabbergasted. The air was eerily devoid of the usual clamour Naruto's presence would bring.

It was just then that cold, freezing chakra rushed into the empty air. His senses went haywire, as the overwhelming feeling of chakra, chakra so deep and similar to that which he had once felt overcame him. His breath was caught in his throat, and the Professor felt genuine fear again.

The Kyuubi.

His traitorous mind screamed at him. The similarities were unmistakable, but just as no two fingerprints were ever the same, no two chakra signatures were ever the same.

Just then, the ominous, cold chakra assaulted his chakra system, but by the time the fact that he was being attacked by a genjutsu registered, he knew it was too late. As he struggled against it however, he saw a figure in the shadows before him. His eyes widened with realisation, but his consciousness faded.

Kitsune.

Base of Operations of Root

Shimura Danzo was a shrewd man.

It was a rhetorical statement, like saying that the sun was hot, or saying that snow was cold. It was synonymous with his name, and everyone with a decent head on their shoulders knew to be wary of him.

Danzo was a schemer a planner, manipulative and obsessive. To him, humans were like pieces in a chess game. Some were more useful than others, but they each had their own uses. A queen was unparallelled in its versatility, but yet a knight could be potentially more devastating. Knights, bishops and rooks may dominate the board, but in the end it was the movement of the pawns that decided the match.

His genius was not in his fighting prowess. His genius was in establishing Root. It was an arduous, meticulous and long process, a project that had began during the beginnings of Hiruzen's initial reign and had lasted even until now. Root was the evil born to facilitate Konohagakure's success, but it was forever destined to be hidden in the shadows. Who was it that had silenced the councillors in the Fire Daimyo's court when they vehemently opposed funding Konoha? Who was it that rooted out traitorous elements in Konoha, that quelled rebellions before they had even began, and executed questionable, morally ambiguous missions that Konoha's front office would have nothing to do with?

Danzo was sure Hiruzen knew of, and understood the significance and importance of Root. It was the sole reason that he had closed a single eye to his actions, and the only reason that he had not been executed many, many years ago for his admittedly atrocious actions.

He had inducted many promising prospects, having closely monitored their development from even before the academy. He polished them, giving them the optimal training. It was the nature of his training that allowed Root to house many of the best shinobi in Konoha. Efficient, deadly, and emotionless, they were the true black ops in Konoha. And yet, not a single member of Root was on the bingo books. Fame was a recipe for disaster. The more well known an individual was, the more dangerous it was to take up missions. Danzo thought it was an absolute waste that many of the finest shinobi such as Minato or Itachi had not been inducted into Root.

However, Danzo had recently laid his eyes on an even bigger catch.

Uzumaki Naruto, the Jinchuuriki of the nine-tailed fox. Danzo had been keeping tabs on him from the instance he knew of his status and his heritage. He tracked his progress in the academy, and he had recently come to know of his failure to pass the exam for the second time in a row. He was labelled as a dud, someone who would never make it as a shinobi.

It truly angered him. Were the instructors at the academy really so incompetent? From his perspective, the jinchuuriki was a diamond in the rough, an incomplete product. Within him resided the nine-tailed fox, the most powerful of the bijuu. He also clearly inherited the Uzumaki's vitality, and a seemingly endless stamina, having evaded capture by chunin and jonin for the better part of a day. And yet, his potential lay untapped and left to rot as he spent his days frolicking around in the academy.

If only Hiruzen had relented to his requests, he wouldn't have had to take action…

The sudden appearance of two familiar chakra signatures alerted him to the arrival of two of his operatives.

"Fuu, Torune, report." He ordered, the men appearing in tandem with a shunshin. They immediately knelt before his presence, placing their katanas on the ground before looking back at him.

"Danzo-sama. The subject engaged the jinchuuriki at the clearing on the Hokage monument at 20:37, causing grievous injury to him. It appeared that the subject was overcome by his anger and was aiming to eliminate the jinchuuriki. Unfortunately, we were unable to interfere in time." Fuu immediately said, voice monotonous in its delivery.

Danzo immediately stiffened, but he relaxed as he realised that there were extenuating circumstances. Fuu and Torune had never failed him before. He gestured for them to continue.

However, they simply looked at each other uncertainly, before turning to face the floor. "We… do not completely understand what had occurred, Danzo-sama. Just as we had ascertained the subject's motive to eliminate the target, We moved in to apprehend him but both the jinchuuriki and the target had... disappeared." Torune continued uncertainly.

"Disappeared?" Danzo asked, incredulous.

Torune nodded solemnly in confirmation.  
"We performed a search around the surrounding area, but we were unable to locate either of them. However, we found a headband a certain distance from the fight we had observed, as well as some blood stains."

Danzo brought his hand up to his head, massaging the bridge of his nose and leaned back into his seat. What a failure. He refused to believe that Fuu and Torune, his two best agents with impeccable mission records, had simply lost sight of their targets, a rusty, mediocre chunin and a poorly trained academy student.

He had spent a considerable amount of resources to create a hole in Konoha's surveillance for the purpose of that night's operation to capture Naruto, and he had even filtered out possible candidates to use as a scapegoat for their purposes. They had singled out Ryuichi Odato, a former chunin who had been forced into retirement with the loss of his arm and his fragile mental state. He had been wallowing in depression and alcohol recently, and it wasn't too difficult to locate him.

Kotoamatsukami was like a drug, Danzo thought, his right eye throbbing with intense pain. It was the apex of genjutsu, allowing for control and manipulation unparalleled by any other. The best part about it however, was the subtle, undetectable nature of it. It completely overwrote the minds of their targets with whatever he wanted, and thus it was impossible for people to sense the disruption in their own chakra systems. It also ensured that Hiruzen would not be able to trace the attack to him even if he had utilised the Yamanaka's abilities to interrogate Ryuichi.

However, it definitely came with a price. The intense pain that overcame him whenever he used it was a testament to that. He could not wield it like Shisui could, and never would, but he would have thought that he would have adapted to it by now…

But now, with Naruto missing, Hiruzen would be alerted, and increase the ANBU surveillance around him. It would surely be harder to capture him now...

"Bring the headband and blood samples for analysis. Dispatch two squads, increase the perimeter of the search. I want the Jinchuuriki in by tonight." Danzo spat, his voice underlined with fury.

The two agents disappeared as quickly as they appeared. Danzo's lone visible eye blazed with his rage; His mind worked like a whirlwind, formulating a plan. He would get what he wanted, no matter what.

It was all for Konoha.

Please review, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.


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